


You Are More

by nyagcnopinkuneko



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 17:20:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyagcnopinkuneko/pseuds/nyagcnopinkuneko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On their way to the Brotherhood Without Banners, Brienne tells Jaime a hard truth, and Jaime offers Brienne reassurance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You Are More

His appearance had hardly improved. His hair was still far from its previous glory; marching and sweating under the winter sun had matted it tight against Jaime’s head. Brienne could not help but notice his beard didn’t look much better.

Lion, indeed, she thought ruefully as her horse plodded just behind him on the battered, cart strewn dirt road they traveled.

She was still completely unsure of how to tell him that she was leading him into a trap, but Jaime was no fool. It was possible, just by looking at her in the last few attempts at conversation they’d had, that he already suspected that not all was what it seemed. Brienne had decided it was better to tell him sooner, rather than later, in the hopes of formulating some kind of plan, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to bear any kind of disappointment he might have in her.

Still, they were mere days from Lady Stoneheart and her men. She had to do something, and she had to do it soon.

“We should stop for our noonday meal,” Brienne said, giving her horse a slight nudge so that she could be head to head with Jaime, who seemed lost in thought, “Jai-, Ser, we should stop.”

Jaime turned to look at her and offered a wry smile, “You’re not usually one to be so eager to stop when we have such an important quest before us. I would have thought you’d be in a hurry.”

Brienne’s face turned crimson and she found herself wishing, not for the first time when in Jaime’s presence, that she had longer hair to hide her face. It was a womanly response, a weak one, she surmised, to want to hide from a man who loved to tease her.

“We’ll be no good on this quest without food,” she reasoned, “And it has been long since we stopped for any,” she paused, “And also, I must needs speak with you.”

Jaime pulled his horse up to a halt and gave Brienne a sharp, critical look and Brienne could not tear her gaze away. She felt as though Jaime were looking straight into her soul. It hurt inside like she was being burned, but to look away would be to admit guilt.

“You have not been honest with me, have you wench,” he finally said softly, swinging one leg over his horse and hopping to the ground.

He lead his mount to the side of the road to a small clearing where they could eat. Brienne, without any chance to answer, followed him quickly.

“How long have you suspected,” she said, as he began to dig into his saddle bags for food.

Jaime laughed, “Not right away, I’m not afraid to admit. You had me fooled until you didn’t immediately begin to tell me where we were going and how you’d found Sansa Stark.”

Brienne flushed. She had been in such a hurry simply to get to Jaime, she hadn’t even bothered to think of a convincing cover story. Perhaps she had not wanted to.

“I am sorry, Jaime,” she said, her voice soft and full of shame, “I lied because of the great peril I find myself in.”

She jumped when she felt fingers on her throat. She had not realized Jaime was so close to her and she immediately stiffened as his fingers traced the angry purple and red marks on her neck.

“Who has done this to you, Brienne,” his voice just as soft.

Brienne looked up and met Jaime’s eyes, green and flecked with gold. She searched them for a sign of disappointment, and saw only concern. She did her best to hide a shudder as his fingers lingered overlong, or was it her imagination, on her skin.

“Lady Stark,” she whispered, still hardly able to believe, “She lives, or, she is not dead. She is not the lady I knew. She is a shade.”

Brienne watched as Jaime’s brow furrowed in confusion.

“I don’t understand, what do you mean, she ‘lives’,” he replied, shaking his head.

“Beric, ser,” she explained, “He gave her his gift of life, the Red God’s gift, and she returned, but … she is not whole. She cannot speak properly, throat slit as it is, and her skin … she is little better than the dead that walk in the North."

Just speaking about it gave her goose flesh. She sighed and sat in the dry, dead grass, picking blades out of the earth in frustration.

“What Beric did was wrong, even if the intent was good. Lady Stoneheart cares for nothing but revenge and death. She nearly killed Pod … me, because I would not swear to kill you,” Brienne went quiet.

“But you’re alive,” Jaime observed, crouching next to her, “Which would mean to me that you changed your mind.”

“I lied to her,” Brienne ground out through gritted teeth, “I promised her what she wanted for the life of Pod and Ser Hyle, but she will not return them to me alive if I do not bring you before her and behead you in her sight.”

“I see,” Jaime said, his lips pressing into a thin line.

They sat in silence for a long time, Brienne was unsure how long. Finally, she gathered herself and spoke.

“You have never lied to me, Jaime,” she said, a statement, not a question.

Jaime’s shoulders jerked as he chuckled, “Not about anything important …”

“No, you have not lied,” Brienne insisted, “Especially not about the quagmire of oath making.”

“No, that I would not lie about,” Jaime conceded.

“I have made an oath I cannot keep. I will not rest until I find Sansa Stark, that oath I will keep or die in the attempt. But killing you …,” Brienne stopped, “I find I cannot do it, no matter how many times I tell myself I must not break my word. If I still believed for a moment that Lady Stoneheart was the woman I once knew, I might not hesitate, but she is not.”

Jaime sighed, handing her the provisions he had dug out of their bags, a chunk of hard brown bread and the last of their dried fish.

“So what is it you intend to do,” he said to her and Brienne answered with a quick shake of her head.

“I do not think, if she were fully aware of herself, that Lady Stark would want to continue on in this way,” Brienne said, “I do not believe her soul will ever be at rest as long as it is divided between this life and the next.”

An eyebrow climbed up Jaime’s forehead and Brienne flushed. She knew that look, or at least, she thought she did. Jaime only looked at her that way when she’d said or done something that legitimately surprised him.

“Are you proposing we kill Lady Stoneheart,” he said.

Brienne didn’t answer immediately. How could she? Even though he’d drawn the conclusion she expected him to, it didn’t make it any easier to admit that that was exactly what she was thinking they must do. Looking into his face, perhaps the most maddeningly honest face she’d ever known, made her feel more at ease.

“If she can be killed, I believe we must do it, for the sake of Lady Stark’s honor,” she said, finally.

Jaime placed a hand over hers, a surprisingly familiar gesture, forcing her to look up into his eyes. She could see how aged this war had made him, yet life still sprang in those unsettling green eyes. Without speaking, she knew he would go with her, help her.

“Jaime,” she croaked, her fingers curling around his, almost without thought.

“It will be alright,” Jaime said, “Perhaps every honorable knight must meet their Aerys.”

Brienne’s eyes widened, her large lips gaping in a slack ‘o’. She had not thought of it that way, but she was not sure the comparison comforted her, and so she said the only thing she could.

“I am no knight.”

Jaime’s hand left hers to stroke a strand of hair from her face, still looking into her eyes.

“No,” he agreed, and then smiled, “You are more.”


End file.
